Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 42 No. 2 2024

Robots and Employment: Evidence from Japan, 1978–2017

Daisuke Adachi^1,2; Daiji Kawaguchi^3,2,4; Yukiko Saito^5,2

¹ Aarhus University · ² Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry · ³ IZA - Institute of Labor Economics · ⁴ The University of Tokyo · ⁵ Waseda University

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between industrial robots and employment in Japan on the basis of a unique dataset that allows us to calculate the unit price of robots. Our model combines standard factor demand theory with a recent task-based approach to derive a simple estimation equation between robot prices and employment, and our identification strategy leverages heterogeneous applications of robots across industries and heterogeneous price changes across applications. We find that the decline in robot prices increased both the number of robots and employment by raising the productivity and production scale of robot-adopting industries.

DOI

10.1086/723205

Volume

42

Issue

2

Pages

591-634

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓